St. Louis Taxi Commission Considering Vomit Fees

Can't that be settled between passenger and taxi driver?

When a drunken patron was helped out of the Lumière Place casino earlier this year, a taxicab driver at first refused to transport the man and his friends for fear the inebriated passenger would get sick in the cab.

A friend convinced the driver that her friend would be fine for the late-night, $22 cab ride to Midtown. She was wrong.

The taxi driver was left with a mess in his cab — and a dispute over the cost of the ride and the cleanup triggered an investigation by the St. Louis Metropolitan Taxicab Commission.

The regulatory agency eventually sided with the taxi driver, but the incident highlights the messy risk drivers take when picking up drunken passengers. Such messes have the taxicab commission considering whether to join other cities that enforce taxicab cleanup fees when drunken passengers vomit or leave other bodily fluids behind.

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